Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/793

Lepilæna.] {|
 * Leaf-sheaths narrow. Anthers 3, connate into a column. Stigma oblong-clavate||1. L. Preissii.
 * Leaf-sheaths broad. Anthers 2 (or 1?). Stigma very large, fiat, deeply fimbriate||2. L. bilocularis.
 * }
 * }

1. L. Preissii, ''F. Muell. Fragm. Phyt. Austral.'' viii. 217.—Stems 6–18 in. long, very slender, filiform, branched, often forming dense masses. Leaves filiform or almost capillary; sheathing bases very narrow. Flowers diœcious; males solitary within the leaf-sheaths, shortly pedicelled. Perianth minute, cupular. Anthers 3, sessile within the perianth, connate by their backs into a columnar mass, each one 2-celled, cells dehiscing longitudinally. Female flowers solitary, shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 distinct segments, rather longer than the carpels. Carpels 3, narrowed into a rather long style; stigma oblong-clavate. Ripe carpels cylindrical, sessile or nearly so, about ½ in. long.—''Benth. Fl. Austral.'' vii. 180; Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. x. (1878) App. xl., and xxviii. (1896) 499. Zannichellia Preissii, ''Lehm. in Plant. Preiss.'' ii. 3.

2. L. bilocularis, T. Kirk in Trans. N.Z. Inst. xxviii. (1896) 500.—Stems filiform, much branched, 3–12 in. long. Leaves very narrow-linear or filiform, flat, 1-nerved, obtuse; base broad, expanded into a membranous sheath. Flowers very minute, solitary, dioecious, concealed in the leaf-sheaths. In the male plant the sheathing bases of the floral leaves are broad and much expanded, and conspicuously 2-lobed at the tip. Flowers very shortly pedicelled. Perianth of 3 most minute hyaline scales. Anthers apparently 2, cohering by their backs and resembling a single anther, each 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent, connective produced. Floral leaves subtending the female flowers with narrower sheaths flowers sessile or very shortly pedicelled. Perianth-segments 3 oblong, entire or 2-lobed, almost as long as the styles. Carpels 3 sessile; styles slender; stigmas very large and broad, deeply fiin briate or laciniate. Ripe carpels about $1⁄15$ in. long, slightly oblique turgid, rounded on the back; style almost as long as the carpel.